Alexander the Great of
Macedon was no stranger to controversy in his own time. Conqueror of the
Greek states, of Egypt and of the Persian Empire as well as many of the
principalities of the Indus Valley, he nevertheless became revered as well
as vilified. Was he a simply a destroyer of the ancient civilizations and
religions of these regions, or was he a hero of the Persian dynasties and of
Islam? The conflicting views that were taken of him in the Middle East in
his own time and the centuries that followed are still reflected in the
tensions that exist between east and west today.

The story of Alexander became the subject of legend in the medieval west,
but was perhaps even more pervasive in the east. The Alexander Romance
was translated into Syriac in the sixth century and may have become current
in Persia as early as the third century AD. From these beginnings it reached
into the Persian national epic, the Shahnameh, into Jewish traditions, and
into the Qur’an and subsequent Arab romance. The papers in this volume all
have the aim of deepening our understanding of this complex development. If
we can understand better why Alexander is such an important figure in both
east and west, we shall be a little closer to understanding what unites two
often antipathetic worlds.

This volume collects the papers delivered at the conference of the same
title held at the University of Exeter from July 26-29 2010. More than half
the papers were by invited speakers and were designed to provide a
systematic view of the subject; the remainder were selected for their
ability to carry research forward in an integrated way.